A Northern Virginia teenager admitted to running a pro-Islamic State Twitter account that helped a man join the jihadi group in Syria Thursday.
Ali Shukri Amin, 17, admitted to conspiring to provide material support for a terror organization and assisting an 18 year-old’s successful journey to the Islamic State, according to The Washington Post.
Amin, a former honor student at Osbourn Park High School, used the Twitter handle @AmreekiWitness and once had 4,000 followers. Amreeki means “American” in Arabic. The “unabashedly pro-Islamic State account” discussed how Bitcoin could be used to fund terror endeavors, reports the Post. The account has since been suspended.
He was arrested in February and accused of helping former Osbourn Park High School student Reza Niknejad join the Islamic State in Syria. Niknejad graduated in 2014, according Phil Kavits, communications director for Prince William County Public Schools, who spoke to The Daily Caller News Foundation.
When asked if Amin operated the pro-Islamic State Twitter account on the school’s computers, Kavits said: “We’re not aware of any kind of activity that involved our schools.” Amin was a senior when he withdrew in February.
Amin began trying to radicalize Niknejad last September and later connected him with an Islamic State jihadi through social media, according to the Post.
He and another 17 year-old student from Osbourn Park High School drove Niknejad to the airport in mid-January, with a ticket to fly from Dulles International Airport to Greece with a layover in Turkey. Niknejad, never boarding for Greece, reportedly crossed from Turkey into Syria.
Amin also ran an overtly pro-jihad ask.fm page and posted at one point: “The American government that calls me a ‘terrorist’ must feel some kind of terror that compels them to call me that. See how American soldiers feel when they see those black flags and swords that thirst for their necks, and ask me if no one fears us,” reports the Post.
He did write that his stances “occasionally contradict official IS views.”
Defense Attorney Joseph Flood released a statement on behalf of his client, saying Amin’s actions “arose from a sincere belief that the current regime in Syria has committed atrocities against its citizens, has repressed Muslims who opposed the government, and that an Islamic government is appropriate in a Muslim country.”
Flood’s statement also said Amin would have graduated from high school this week and planned to attend university in the fall.
Amin faces up to 15 years in prison when he is sentenced in late August, according to CNN.
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